dancing Archives - Wander-Lust

It’s that time of the year again, Festival Season! Some oldies have returned, some have gone and there are plenty of new ones to check out! We’ve included festivals around the world that are worth mentioning this year. Here are the World’s Best Music Festivals 2019!

DGTL Festival Amsterdam
When? Easter Weekend 19/20/21 April
Where? Amsterdam NSDM Werf
DGTL Festival is one of the first festivals of the season, and if we can, we go. Why? Because this is more than just about music. DGTL has recently won the “Outstanding Award” at the Greener Festival Awards and a “Green Operations Award” at the European Festival Awards. DGTL is now officially one of the most sustainable festivals in the world. But let’s talk about music. DGTL creates a line-up with big techno names, but also highlights the underground scene, often DJ’s that make it big the following year. We can’t wait for Easter Weekend. www.dgtl.nl

Lost & Found Festival
When? 2/3/4/5 May
Where? Malta
This electronic music festival was founded by Annie Mac 5 years ago and has been a success ever since. The location is perfect because you get to explore the small island while you’re there. Music wise you can dance to Black Coffee, The Black Madonna, Chase and Status and many more. There are beach parties, castles raves and boat parties. Get your tickets now!

Bottlerock Festival
When? 24/25/26 May
Where? Napa Valley, USA
Wine and music is a great combination and that must have been the exact thoughts of the organisers of Bottlerock Festival. Napa Valley is a beautiful wine region but next to wine there will be food, silent disco, spa time and even art. Headliners are Imagine Dragons, One Republic and Sylvan Esso, to name just a few. The festival is almost sold out, but maybe it’s something to add into your diary for next year? www.bottlerocknapavalley.com

Bottlerock

We are FSTVL, UK
When? 25/26/27 May
Where? Upminster Greater London
It’s a huge festival with a lot of big names is dance and techno music. With 6 stages, this is one of the biggest festivals in London. Expect 50.000 people in London’s best festival. Tickets are about £60 and almost sold out so if you’re heading over to London you might as well check this festival out. www.wearefstvl.com

We Love Green 2018, France
When? 1/2 June
Where? Paris, France
This festival focuses on sustainability and uses solar power to generate energy. With We Love Green can show you that sustainable festivals will be something of the future and that it can be done. It will celebrate it’s 8th year and headliners include Erykah Badu, Laurent Garnier, Future and many more. www.welovegreen.fr

Komm Schön Alter
When? 22nd of June
Where? Tuinen van West, Amsterdam
This festival is one of Elke’s favorites. It’s small, intimate festival and welcomes a crowd from 24 years old and over, only. By doing so, the festival has a wonderful family feel to it, with no (too) drunken teenagers running around. This year, the line-up includes EINMUSIC, Oxia, Miss Melera, Arjuna Schiks and more. www.kommschonalter.de

Sunshine at Komm Schön Alter Festival

Meadows in the Mountains, Bulgaria
When? 6/7/8/9 June
Where? In the mountains of Bulgaria
If you want something different and special you should check this festival out. Right near the Greek border, this is a festival hidden away in the mountains where you will see day turn into night and the morning fog fall over the trees. A truly encompassing and unique music and arts festival that brings to life the possibility of real adventure embraced by guaranteed sun and friendly faces. www.meadowsinthemountains.com

Photo by @aronkleinphotography

Secret Solstice
When? 21/22/23 June
Where? Reykjavik, Iceland
Are you ready to dance in the light? This festival takes place on the longest day of the year where it’s just dark for about 3 hours. Secret Solstice is for festival goers with a passion for the natural beauty of the great outdoors. Each year the festival welcomes an eclectic lineup to the naturally breathtaking country for main stage sets, glacier raves, lava tunnel shindigs, midnight sun boat parties and secret lagoon blowouts. Enjoy this surreal phenomenon and feel at-one with nature during the festival which showcases the international artist alongside the best homegrown talent. www.secretsolstice.is

Awakenings Festival
When? 29/30 June
Where? Spaarnwoude, Netherlands
The best names in the Techno, minimal and deephouse gather each year to make this festival a huge succes. Stages are huge and the sound is spot on. A must visit if you love Techno music! www.awakeningsfestival.nl

Awakenings Festival

Neversea Festival
When? 4/5/6/7 of Juli
Where? Constanta, Romania
After the success of the first edition in 2017, Neversea will be back for their second edition in 2018. It’s the biggest beach festival in Romania and will take place in Constanţa. Dance, HipHop and Electronical music will have the center stage. www.neversea.com

Neversea Festival

Firefly Music Festival
When? 21/22/23 June
Where? The Woodlands, Dover, USA
It seems like all the artists that are looking for a comeback, are performing here. Post Malone, Travis Scott, DJ Snake, Panic at the disco are all on stage at Firefly Music Festival this June. It’s in the woods, so this gives the festival a cool vibe and we wish we could be there as the festival celebrates it’s seven year anniversary. Weekend tickets are still available but be quick! fireflyfestival.com

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EXIT Festival
When? 4th – 7th of July
Where? Novi Sad Serbia
EXIT Festival has been around for a while but they managed to win the European Festival Award for “Best Major Festival”. In total, you can enjoy 20 different stages that vary in music styles.

Dancing at EXIT

Woodstock 50
When? 16/17/18 August
Where? Watkins Glen, NY
The mother of all festivals had to be Woodstock back in the early 70’s. This festival attracted over half a million people at the time, seeking peace, love and unity. Woodstock 50 wants to keep this spirit going and with headliners like The Killers, Jay Z and Miley Cyrus, they are definitely on the right track. If you are in New York in August, be sure to get hold of a ticket. www.woodstock.com

Sea You Festival, Germany
When? 13/14 Juli
Where? Freiburg, Germany
Just around the corner of the black forest, lays a lake where summer will be celebrated to the max. It’s an intimate festival with 2 stages but the biggest names in dance/techno music. It’s about 6-7 hours drive from The Netherlands so a nice roadtrip that’s well worth it. You can also wakeboard if you’re up for it and cool down in the big lake. www.seayou-festival.de

Source: Sea You Festival

Sonar Festival
When? 18/19/20 July
Where? Barcelona, Spain
We’re not going this year but elke went twice before. A M A Z I N G! Buy a ticket and experience the real Sonar but also check out all the parties around the beach and clubs. What we love: The free beach parties, the tapas and the good vibes! www.sonar.es

Wildeburg Festival
When? 12/13/14 July
Where? Kraggeburg, Netherlands
This festival is getting more popular every year. With so many commercial and massive festivals, Wildeburg is something refreshing. It’s going to be the third edition with 150 acts that haven’t been announced yet. Although the weekend tickets have been sold out, last minute Sunday tickets will be made available so keep an eye on their website and social media! www.wildeburg.nl

Wildeburg

Lowlands Festival 2019
When? 18/19 August
Where? Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands
Set in a remote location in The Netherlands just over an hours drive from Amsterdam, Lowlands allows attendees to disconnect from the real world in a
township with thousands of inhabitants that arises in the middle of the country for three days in August. Lowlands is a festival for everybody that loves music. It doesn’t matter what festival you’re into, because you can find it all. HipHop, Techno, Rock, Jazz, Pop and Indy. There are about twelve stages (going by the names of Alpha, Bravo, Heineken, Lima, Juliet, X-Ray, Echo). Offering a unique selection of film, stand-up comedy, visual arts, literature, and street theatre. This year’s lineup includes appearances from the likes of Frans Ferdinant, Paul Kalkbrenner, ASAP Rocky, and many more. Wow. lowlands.nl

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LolaPallooza Berlin
When? 7/8 September
Where? Berlin, Germany
This intimate festival is striking down in Berlin for the 4rd time and with succes! Names like Kings of Leon, Swedish House Mafia and 21 Pilots will be on stage. Book yourself a comfy hotel in Berlin and explore the city! www.lollapaloozade.com

OASIS Festival
When? 13/15/15 September
Where? Marrakech, Morocco
Just imagine a place where you can see lush gardens, vibrant colours, palmtrees, sand and swimming pools all into one place. Sounds like an Oasis maybe? Oasis festival takes place in the luxurious Fellah Hotel in Marrakech and attracts an international crowd. There will be multiple music stages, daily yoga and reflexology, delicious street food and pop-up restaurants, a champagne bar, craft cocktails, henna, hookah and its very own secret souk. Sounds good? Weekenders are on sale now and cost around €180,-. www.theoasisfest.com

Oasis Festival

Into The Woods
When? 13/14 September
Where? Amersfoort, Netherlands
This festival set in the woods of Amersfoort, is something magical. The setting is intimate, yet big enough to walk around the festival and discover a new area or secret corners. The art installations are incredible, we can only imagine how much work goes into this. Tickets are always sold out within 20 minutes and go on sale soon. Enter your email address to be notified. www.intothewoodsfestival.nl

Photo by www.rubenmay.com

May
23th – 27th May: Virgo Festival, UK
30th May: Primavera Sound, Spain

June
29th May – 2nd June: Distortion Festival, Denmark
26st -30th June: Glastonbury, UK

July
11th – 13th July: NOS Festival, Portugal
11th of July: Bilbao Live, Spain
17th – 20th July: Gurten Festival, Switzerland
25th – 28st July: Kendal Calling, UK

August
1st – 4th August: Untold Festival, Croatia
15th – 18th August: Green Man Festival, Wales
22nd – 25th August: Shambala Festival, UK

Love,

Wander-Lust

Cuba, a destination where you, so to say ‘travel back in time’. Its most distinguishing mark are probably its old-timers. You just can’t ignore all the Plymouths, Chevrolets and Pontiacs driving around. But, Cuba is much more than that. It’s a diverse country with an interesting history, beautiful beaches, great nature, lovely people, charming cities and not to forget tasty rum, good cigars and spectacular salsa. Literally in every restaurant and on each plaza there’s a salsa band playing the famous Guantanamera, Chan Chan, or another salsa song. With this music, I felt like dancing around Cuba. My favorite places:

1. Havana: a great way to start your holiday
The capital of Cuba is quite touristic, but it definitely has its charm as well. Especially Havana Vieja has a great ambiance with its cosy streets, beautiful colonial buildings and amiable plazas where you can enjoy a local beer or mojito while listening to (or dancing on) the first salsa tones. Outside Havana Vieja, the fortress El Morro, Plaza de la Revolución and the Malécon are also worth a visit. Altogether, my boyfriend and I got a nice first glimpse of the Cuban culture here.

A local bar on one of the main squares in Havana

2. Valle de Viñales: a good dose of nature
We explored the Valle de Viñales by doing a five-hour tour on horses. Once entering the national park, the so-called mogotes, lime-stone cliffs, start rising from the bottom of the valley which makes it a spectacular view. During the tour we also visited a cave, a coffee plantation, a lake and a cigar plantation. The cigar is another signature of Cuba, so the farmer that showed us how they’re made, insisted I also tried one, because I otherwise did not really visit Cuba. To be honest, it didn’t taste as bad as I thought it would, mainly because the farmer had dipped the cigar in a bit of honey to make it sweeter (as the Cubans basically do with everything).

3. El Nicho: imposing waterfall
The trip to this waterfall, just outside the national park Topes de Calientes, was sensational on itself. All of a sudden, you’re driving around in this green, mountainous region. At some point, our taxi could not cope very well with these hills and the driver had to give the motor some water every 500 meters. When we finally arrived, we still had some hiking to do in order to reach the waterfall. It was quite hot, but the view of the waterfall, and the ability to jump into its cold water, was definitely worth it.

The EL Nicho waterfall

4. Trinidad: city of the salsa
Trinidad is a city with an amazing vibe, one that can hardly be described. You just have to go there to experience it. The city centre is quite small and picturesque with its Spanish colonial architecture. At night, the main square, Plaza Major, is filled with lots of people. Not only tourists, but also the Cubans gather here to listen to live music and dance the salsa. Since the salsa also is a characteristic of Cuba, we wanted to learn dancing it ourselves. So, we took a salsa class at a dancing school in Trinidad. We actually felt like doing a pretty good job; until later that night we watched some Cubans dancing in the square… that was something different!

5. Playa Santa Lucia: beautiful beaches and fantastic diving
Santa Lucia is a small town at the north coast of Cuba. It was the most peaceful town of our trip. There were nearly no tourists, so we really felt like we were amongst Cubans. Next to the beautiful beaches (best one is Playa Los Cocos, just 8kms outside Santa Lucia) it’s also a great place for diving. During our dive we saw a 66m long ancient shipwreck with beautiful coral on top and nice fishes swimming around. I can tell you, that’s really impressive.

Playa Los Cocos

6. The city of the revolution: Santa Clara
Santa Clara is mainly interesting because of its history. This is the city where Che Guevara successfully derailed an armoured train, which was a key tipping point in the Cuban revolution. This train, called Tren Blindado, can still be seen on the exact spot where it derailed. On the other side of town, at Plaza de la Revolución, you’ll find a massive monument of Guevara together with the mausoleum that houses the remains of this famous revolutionist and a museum that tells you all about him.

7. Las Cuevas de Bellamar in Matanzas: some impressive caves
At first, we were not sure whether to visit the Caves just outside Matanzas, since we’ve seen stalactites and stalagmites before. In the end we did decide to go, and boy was I happy with this decision. All previous caves were dwarfed by this supposedly 24kms long cave. Only 2kms are open for visitation, in which you can see spectacular halls and galleries, that all have their own names. Feels like walking around in a completely different, almost fairy-tale like world.

One of the galleries in the Bellamar caves

Are you ready for some dancing around Cuba?

Love,

Dionne

*Dionne is one of our guest bloggers from the Netherlands, currently living in Den Bosch. In everyday life she works as a marketing-communications professional. She loves to travel to distant destinations, but I also enjoy a city trip closer to home.

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The World’s Best Music Festivals 2019

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